CLICK HERE TO MEET MORE OF THIS YEAR’S WOMEN OF DISTINCTION
About 14 years ago, Mara Natkin and Gloria Ramirez met while waitressing. The two hit it off, bonding over a mutual love of art. Pretty soon, they became a couple. During that time, Natkin’s aunt and Ramirez’s aunt both passed away. “It made us stop and think, are we really doing what we want with our lives?” Natkin says. “And we knew the answer was no.”
Spurred by that realization and some health challenges, they both began a wellness journey. They were inspired to combine their mutual love of art and newfound interest in healthy living. So they started making greeting cards, coloring books, T-shirts, prints and more, showing off vibrant designs of human anatomy. They sold their work around town, forming Artery Ink.
A year later, they quit their jobs and devoted themselves full time to the new business. The decision paid off – Artery Ink grew quickly, and is now a team of seven! Today, they sell a wide lineup of clothing, custom apparel and a tri-monthly subscription box. In 2020, they launched their Community Collection, selling new apparel designs each month with proceeds benefiting nonprofits. “We believe that when you have a platform, you have to use it for good,” Ramirez says. “That’s a core of our company – building community locally and throughout the world.”
“The only way to succeed is to be completely authentic to yourself.”
– Mara Natkin
Q&A
Artery Ink started small but has grown a lot. Why do you think it’s been successful?
GR: Our work communicates a lot – it communicates the love that is behind it. I think people relate to that and they feel represented in it. They feel part of something bigger.
MN: Art is such a universal language. It can represent so much more than what it physically is. Our work has all these details and lines that can be mesmerizing – you look at it once and see one thing, and then another time you see something else.
Artery Ink’s Community Collection products raise money for nonprofits. How did you start that?
MN: When COVID happened, we didn’t know if we were going to be able to stay open or pay our employees. We said we would pay them as long as we could, and we went home. During that first week, we saw on social media all these nurses who were struggling on the front lines. We wanted to help, so we took a little time and came up with two new designs – The Heart of Health Care and We’re in This Together Lungs. We donated $5 per shirt sold to the Feed the Frontline campaign. We didn’t expect much, but we ended up selling about 900 shirts in the first week and continued to do that for six months. It was insane. We went from not working because of the pandemic to fourteen-hour days shipping orders.
After that, we knew that we wanted to keep giving to different organizations, so we created the Community Collection. Every month, we do a different shirt fundraiser for a different organization – a lot of them right here in Milwaukee – and we donate proceeds.
GR: We really believe that when you have a platform, you have to use it for good. That’s become a core of our company: giving and making sure that we’re building community.
What are some of your goals for Artery Ink’s future?
MN: We want to grow globally. Eventually, we want to buy our own building. We could have our warehouse and a storefront.
GR: Maybe a community garden, or teaching cooking classes, maybe making people more aware of health. We want to continue to create awareness and become a global brand with a focus on building community and inspiring people.
